Tuesday, July 22nd, 2014 at 8:53am

In this July 10, 2014 photo, a mailman delivers mail to a house for sale in Quincy, Mass. The National Association of Realtors reports on existing-home sales in June on Tuesday, July 22, 2014. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

U.S. sales of previously owned homes rose for a third straight month in June closed deals in the Albuquerque metro area rose for the sixth month in a row.

The National Association of Realtors said Tuesday that sales of existing homes increased 2.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.04 million homes. It marked the first time that sales have been above the 5 million-mark since October. Even with the three months of increases, however, sales were still 2.3 percent below the sales rate in June of last year.

In the Albuquerque metro area, there were 800 closed sales of existing homes in June compared to 797 the previous month, the Greater Albuquerque Association of Realtors reported. Closed sales in prior months starting with April were 721, 695, 550 and 539 respectively.

June 2014 sales were off from sales of 859 in June of 2013.

The median sales price in the Albuquerque real estate market remained at $180,000 for the second consecutive month and rose 4.7% from June 2013, the group said. Median sales is the marker where half of the sales are higher and half are lower.

“With 4,937 homes for sale, a 6.8 month supply of homes, buyers have plenty of opportunities for their next home purchase,” GAAR president John Kynor said in a statement.

Nationally, after peaking at 5.38 million units last July, sales had been falling as mortgage rates climbed from historic lows after then-Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke indicated in June that the central bank could begin trimming its monthly bond purchases later in the year.

The Fed did start reducing the bond purchases in December but mortgage rates have actually retreated as financial markets realized the Fed intended a gradual reduction of the long-interest rate support it has been providing the economy. Rates on 30-year mortgages stood at 4.12 percent last week.

For June, sales were up in every region of the country, led by a 6.2 percent increase in the Midwest and a 3.2 percent rise in the Northeast. Sales rose 2.7 percent in the West and edged up a slight 0.5 percent in the South.